Papouli's Mediterranean Cafe & Market

To this day, Papouli's is every bit a family affair as it was back in the day: black and white family photos on the walls, old-school cookbooks on the shelves, and homemade Mediterranean dishes from the family recipe collection.

Papouli's first started slinging their Mediterranean family recipes in Alpharetta back in 2007, but there are decades more history behind the recipes at this family-owned restaurant. It all started back in Chicago, where the Patras family first got their start in the restaurant world. (Windy City natives, take note: it's also where they learned to whip up a serious Italian beef.) After making their mark opening a string of quintessential Chicago bars and restaurants, the Patras family packed up their recipes and headed to a faraway land tragically bereft of decent Greek food: the South. Upon realizing precisely how hard it was for a guy to get a decent souvlaki in this neck of the woods, the Patras crew did what they do best: opened up their own darn restaurant, thank you very much.

Thus, the first iteration of Papouli's was born back in '86, bringing to the South a slew of family recipes contributed by various Patras aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and family friends. To this day, Papouli's is every bit a family affair as it was back in the day: black and white family photos on the walls, old-school cookbooks on the shelves, and homemade Mediterranean dishes from the family recipe collection: tender skewered souvlaki, creamy moussaka (because everything's better with béchamel) and sweet, flaky baklava, to name a few. (Not to mention that aforementioned Italian beef sandwich — we all know how far y'all Chicago expats will travel for one of those.)